The government has assured Sebi that listed public sector undertakings will meet the August 2013 deadline to meet the capital markets regulator's mandatory public shareholding norms, Sebi Chief UK Sinha said on Wednesday.
"I am happy to inform that we have received confirmation from government that it will abide by public shareholding guidelines within the timeframe," Sinha said at a conference organised by industry body Assocham.
According to Sinha, the promoter holding in Indian companies is very high as compared to other Asian markets and Sebi took up the matter with the government as it feels that the PSUs should also follow the rules, Sinha said.
Under the norms, privately promoted companies are expect to have a public shareholding at 25% by June 2013, while the same for the state-run listed companies has been relaxed to 10%, which has to be met by August 2013, Sinha said.
According to analysts, 11 PSUs, including Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers and State Bank of Mysore, have government holding beyond the 90 percent mark and the government will have to bring it down.
Sinha also said that the Sebi is continuously taking measures to improve retail investors' confidence in the equity market and stressed that the market is not a "casino" where one can do anything and get away with it.
Underlining that the Indian market is well-regulated, he said investors should not worry as Sebi has the necessary mechanisms to take care of any manipulation.
It has put up a sophisticated surveillance mechanism which is putting out up to 100 alerts a day on potentially fraudulent transactions, he said.
"I assure you, if there is any attempt to manipulate the market or to bypass the rules, we will take action and with this surveillance mechanism, we are in a much better position to do that today," he said.
